, CABEOLL COUNTY. 797 CARROLL COUNTY. AREOLL COUNTY lies on the dividing ridge between the Tennes- see and Mississippi Rivers. It is bounded north by Weakley and Henry Counties, east by Benton and Decatur, south by Henderson and Madison, west by Gibson, and has an area of about 650 square miles. The eastern portion is drained by the Big Sandy River and its numerous tribu- taries. This river flows through the county in a northerly direction, and thence to its junction with the Tennessee. The central and western portions are drained by the Obion River (which flows to the Mississippi) and its tributaries, Beaver Creek, Crooked Creek and Rutherford Fork. In the western and northwestern portions of the county the surface of the country is gently undulating, while in the eastern and southeastern portions it is somewhat broken and hilly. The soil is generally a clay loam mixed with sand, and the subsoil is a reddish clay. With proper cultivation the land produces well. The timbers are the oak in its varie- ties, hickory, poplar, gum, beech etc. There are numerous springs, but for family use the people generally depend upon wells and cisterns. The flrst settlements in the county were made at McLemoresville and’ Buena Vista about the year 1820. E. E. C. Dougherty, at whose house the county was organized, held the land office for West Tennessee at McLemoresville as early as 1820. The flrst entry of land at this office, was made December 6, 1820, by David Gillespie. Other early settlers, in the western part of the county were Dr. S. Y. Bigham, Rev. William- Bigham, David Marshall, Robert Gilbert who cleared the site of Mc- Lemoresville, Rev. Abner Cooper, Rev. Reuben Burrow, Revs, James and Robert Hurt, Reddick Hillsman, William Harris, Lewis De- moss and Nathan Fox. James Hampton, Wm. Horton, Moses Roberts, W. A. Crider and son E. H. Crider (^who is still living), andNathan Nes- bit and son Wilson (the latter still living), and Samuel Rogers were- among the flrst settlers in the vicinity of Buena Vista, and elsewhere in the eastern part of the county. The first settlers in the vicinity of Huntingdon were Samuel Ingram, John Crockett (father of W. G. Crock- ett now of Huntingdon), James H. Gee, Wm. A. Thompson Thomas Ross,, John Gwin, Robert Murray and others. Among the early settlers in the-i vicinity of McKenzie were J. M. Gilbert (the present mayor of that, is eighty-six of town, who now over years age Ambrose . ) , Dudley, Thomas and Wm. Hamilton, Elam Cashon, Green Bethel, Wm. Rogers and Jolnii 50 798 HISTOBY OF TENNESSEE. Crreen. Later came James and Richard Cole, Stephen Pate, John Mc- Kenzie and others. As the organization of the county took place almost immediately after the first settlements were made, it should be borne in mind that every person hereinafter named in connection with the organi- sation of the county and of the courts were early settlers. Large tracts of the most valuable lands of the county were entered by the location of North Carolina military land warrants, and owned by non-residents. Mimucan Hunt & Co. held such warrants for twenty tracts of land, each containing 5,000 acres. In September, 1794, Mr. Hunt conveyed to Isaac Roberts five of said tracts, 25,000 acres, all lying on Beaver Oreek in Carroll County, for Mr. Roberts’ share for locating the land warrants, and obtaining the grants from the State for the aforesaid twenty 5,000-acre tracts. These lands were all located west of the 'Tennessee River and largely in Carroll County. In January, 1821, Dr. Thomas Hunt, executor of the will of Mimucan Hunt, then deceased, con- veyed to Thomas H., Jesse, Samuel and Nathan Benton, the interest in said lands belonging to their father, Jesse Benton of North Carolina, sail of which appears of record in the register’s office at Huntingdon. The Indians left the county about the time the settlers appeared. fBut the unbroken forest was then infested with bears, wolves, panthers, deer, wildcats, the smaller wild animals, and snakes. It is said that the 3’eputation this country then had in North Carolina, was “ fifty bushels of frogs to the acre, and snakes enough to fence* the land.” The wild ani- mals destroyed many of the domestic animals of the early settlers, but tthej were hunted and subdued until all of the more destructive ones lhaw«e become extinct. The first bridge built in the county was McKee’s Ibridgeon the Big Sandy. In 1822, and prior thereto, there were no uhilk isi the county, and the first settlers had to go to Humphreys County to ige^t their milling done, and family supplies, such as salt, coffee, etc, were itken brought from Reynoldsburg on the Tennessee River. The first gristmill in West Tennessee, was built in Carroll County by Isaac Blount on Blount Creek, on the site of the mill since owned by Joshua Butler. In March, 1824, Wm. Harris and Reddick Hillsman obtained leave of the county court to build a mill on Reedy Creek, and John ‘Stockard was granted leave to build one on the same creek. Prior to this ‘the same privilege had been granted to one Green, on Hollow Rock Creek. About the same time R. E. C. Dougherty built a mill on Clear Creek. .James Shields erected the first cotton-gin in the county, on a place near IBuena Vista. The first will probated in the county was that of David Olai'k, deceased, probated in June, 1824. Andrew Neely was the first in- ffanit ward and John S. Neely the first guardian. Wm. Roberts, called CABEOLL COUNTY. 799 Bit Nose Bill, was the first man married in the county. About 1831 the Huntingdon turnpike leading to Jackson was constructed. For the years 1821 and 1822 the counties of Gibson and Dyer were territorially attached to Carroll, and for 1823 Gibson alone. The raising of cotton was begun by the early settlers, and it has al- ways been the staple production of the farmers. Grains and vegetables have been raised for home consumption, while cotton has been raised for the market. Tobacco to some extent has always been, and continues to be raised, in the northern part of the county. The people are indus- trious and generous, primitive in their habits, and manufacture and wear a great deal of home-made clothing. The United States census report for 1880 gives the agricultural products of the county as follows; Indian corn, 1,018,415 bushels; oats, 37,694 bushels; wheat, 88,396 bushels; hay, 1,131 tons; cotton, 10,505 bales; Irish potatoes, 9,377 bushels; sweet po- tatoes, 25,099 bushels; tobacco, 69,167 pounds. And the live stock was enumerated as follows: horses and mules, 7,428; cattle, 10,754; sheep, 7,166; hogs, 35,398. In 1860 the population of Carroll County was white, 13,339; colored, 4,098. In 1880 the population was white, 16,524; colored, 5,579, the increase of the white population for the twenty years being 3,185,'’ and of the colored 1,481, the per centum of in- crease of the former being nearly twenty-four, and of the latter a little over thirty-six. The county of Carroll was organized by an act of the General Assem- bly .of the State of Tennessee, passed November 7, 1821, which provided that a new county, to be called Carroll, should be established within the following bounds, to-wit: “ Beginning on the west boundary of Hum- phreys County,* at the southeast corner of Henry; running thence west with the south boundary of said county to the southwest corner of Henry County thence south parallel with the range line to a point two and a ; half miles south of the line dividing the Ninth and Twelfth Districts; thence east parallel with the sectional line in the Ninth District; thence north to the northeast corner of Eange 2, Section 11, in said Ninth District; thence east with the district line to the west boundary of Perry County ;f thence northwardly with the west boundary of Perry and Humphreys Counties, to the beginning.” The act also provided that the court of pleas and quarter sessions should be held on the second Mondays of March, June, September and December of each year, at the house of R. E. C. Dougherty at McLemoresville until otherwise provided by law. By a subsequent act passed November 21, 1821, Sterling Brewer of Dickson County, James Fentress of Montgomery County, and Abram *Now the west line of Benton County. fNow the west line of Decatur County. ; 800 HISTOBY OF TENNESSEE. Maury of Williamson County, were appointed commissioners to fix on a place as near tlie center of the county as an eligible site could be pro- cured, within three miles of the center thereof, for the seat of justice. In accordance with said act the first bench of justices of the peace con- sisting: of John Gwin, Edward Gwin, Senator Mark E. Eoberts, Samuel Ingram, John Stockard, Thomas Hamilton, Samuel A. McClary, Banks- W. Burrow, Daniel Barecroft, and John Bone, commissioned as such by Gov. Carroll, met on the 11th of March, 1822, at the house of E. E. C. Dougherty at McLemoresville, and organized the first county court, then known as the court of pleas and quarter sessions,^by electing John Gwin as chairman. The first entry on the minutes of the court following the caption, read as follows: “ Ordered that the county tax be equal to the State tax, except on white and black polls.